IWAKI, Fukushima Prefecture--Jumping on the nationwide bandwagon of local all-girl idol groups, five junior and senior high school students here have formed a pop group to raise funds to support orphans and other children who lost their family members in the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake.
IWAKI, Fukushima Prefecture--Jumping on the nationwide bandwagon of local all-girl idol groups, five junior and senior high school students here have formed a pop group to raise funds to support orphans and other children who lost their family members in the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake.
Baby Tiara was formed in December 2013 by teenage girls with the purpose of donating revenues from its concerts and goods sales to citizens’ efforts to support orphans and other children.
“Although our contribution has been small, we love to continue efforts to bring smiles back to children who were affected by the disaster,” said 18-year-old Noa Hinata, which is her stage name.
The third-year high school student decided to put together an idol group to make use of her singing and dancing skills after she read a newspaper story about a girl who was trying to deal with the loss of family members who were victims of the disaster.
“It made me think of ways I could contribute to these children,” Hinata said.
She asked three of her friends who also love singing and dancing to form Baby Tiara. The group started appearing at local events in February, and its fifth and youngest member, 14-year-old Konon Mizuki, also her stage name, joined the group in August after passing an audition.
For the first few months, Baby Tiara did not have original songs and performed covers of hits by major idol groups, including Nogizaka46, a rival of the wildly popular AKB48.
Hoping to provide Baby Tiara with an original song, a fan of the group wrote a letter to Ryoma Kitamuro, a composer who has written hit songs for Nogizaka46 and other idol groups, asking him to write a song for Baby Tiara.
Impressed by the group’s mission, Kitamuro agreed to compose a song just for them. He met the group members in Iwaki in early October, and his conversation with the five girls inspired him to write “Yumeiro Macaron,” which has become Baby Tiara's signature song.
The group has made about 20 performances at concerts and public events, including a recent live performance in front of JR Iwaki Station, which drew about 200 fans from as far as Tokyo.
So far, Baby Tiara has donated 90,000 yen ($750) from ticket sales and sales of original goods to a nonprofit group in Iwaki that supports about 160 orphans and children in the prefecture.
“With memories of the disaster fading away after more than three years, the number of our supporters has been dwindling,” said Izumi Soga, president of the nonprofit group. “We can’t fully express how much we appreciate these girls for their contributions.”
Baby Tiara is currently recruiting new members who support the group’s mission.